VOA慢速英语20116--纽约司机连续通过236个绿灯成网红

 

This is What’s Trending Today.

Noah Forman is an Uber driver in New York City.

He is an experienced¹ driver in a city known for its severe traffic jams.

Forman started driving a taxi in 2005. Then, he switched to the ride-sharing service.

He said he got the idea to see how many green lights he could make it through without being stopped by a red light, when he saw a video in 2014. One driver made 55 straight green lights.

Forman thought he could get through more intersections³ than that without stopping.

So one day, he made a video of himself driving and posted it on YouTube.

He got more than 100 lights that time. After reaching a red light, he continued on, and made it through 76 more lights without stopping.

Inspired by his first try, Forman thought he could do even better.

So in early December, he tried again.

This time, he made it through 236 lights in a row.

The drive covered almost all of Manhattan’s East Side and took about 27 minutes.

Many people wanted to know how he did it.

A local television station spoke⁴ to Forman. He said he drove about 35 kilometers per hour because the lights are timed to reward safe, slower drivers.

He also made the drive early on a Monday morning when there was not much traffic. After over 10 years of driving in New York, he knew which streets would provide long stretches of green lights.

One day, Forman said, he might try to get through 500 green lights.

Most people seemed impressed with his video.

But, there were some who said it was not a big deal. On a website that covers life in New York, one reader wrote: “this isn’t impressive⁵, to be honest.”

Other readers said the long stretches of green lights are called “the green wave.”

Some said the most important thing about Forman’s trip was “good luck.” Long trips in New York can be influenced by many things, including bad drivers and people walking in the street.

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

Words in This Story

intersection² – n. the place where two or more streets meet or cross each other?

inspire – v. to make someone want to do something, to give someone an idea

impress – v. to cause admiration or interest

1 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

2 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

3 intersections   

n.横断( intersection的名词复数 )；交叉；交叉点；交集

参考例句：

• Traffic lights have been placed at all major intersections. 所有重要的交叉路口都安装了交通信号灯。
• Intersections are of the greatest importance in highway design. 在道路设计中，交叉口占有最重要的地位。 来自辞典例句

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 impressive   

adj.给人深刻印象的，感人的

参考例句：

• This cinema is so impressive that we can't help crying.这影片如此感人以至我们禁不住流下泪来。
• The suit made him look especially impressive.他穿上这套衣服真精神。